California Parent Who Withdrew His Child From Islamic Classes in Public School Tells His Story

One parent refused to have his child indoctrinated in the public school curriculum of Islam and pulled his son out of school after he had to start memorizing the Five Pillars of Islam and the shahada. I previously wrote about it here. This is in California. It is two weeks later, and the boy has not returned to class because they are still teaching about Islam. Two weeks and counting.

I have heard rumblings that now over 200 complaints have been made to the school…and still no action. What powerful force is standing up for the Islamization of our schools? Our children?

The principal said there was not a lot he/they could do, as they have been utilizing this very textbook since 2007—the year the US-Muslim engagement was implemented — the blueprint for dhimmitude (below a screengrab from said document):

The brave parent has penned this article for Atlas explaining what he, his family and other parents have been going through:

While We Were Sleeping… (The Islamization Of Suburbia)

To start with, it was a normal day in suburbia, not a normal suburbia, mind you, but a wealthy community outside of a major city known for its perfect weather and sculpted Pilates moms. To say it's not normal is an understatement, really. If you head downtown, you'll see what looks like a movie set built along a pristine beach. It even comes complete with the chiseled pedestrians who appear to be straight out of a Michael Kors ad. Basically, it's paradise! At a cost.

Now, I'm not indigenous here. In fact, at any neighborhood party or event, I stick out like a scarecrow in a parking lot. It's probably the, "Hey, ya'll" or the "Yes, ma'am" that gives me away, but for certain, I'm a Southern transplant. That's not to say I don't love it here. I wasn't kidding about the weather, and there are no bugs. Where I'm from, if you can make it from the front door to the mailbox without a mosquito bite or a bead of sweat, it's front-page news.

There's more than just the weather. I'll certainly be the last to sell this little slice of Shangri-la short. The people are amazingly friendly and caring, it's incredibly safe, and the life is slow, however close enough to the big city to be fast if you want it.

But the best part, or so we thought, is the educational system. That's the thing my girlfriend, my son, and I heard about most when we moved here. "Oh, the schools are always ranked the best in the nation!" they said.

To be fair, we are happy, for the most part, with the school system. The classes are tough, the homework is plentiful, and the curriculum is very challenging by any standard, unless you're from India or Asia. Then we may need to kick it up a notch. In fact, we couldn't be happier with all of the things at the school that pertains to actual education. What we are emphatically displeased with are the things being taught at the school that have absolutely no place in the American educational system: religion and faith, specifically Islam.

Back to the normal day in suburbia. It was the end of said day, that part when we check our emails or read the news, the kids are finishing up their homework, and everyone's stomach is making strange noises. I was at my computer when my son came in the room, "Dad, can you help me with my homework?"

"Sure, buddy. Whatcha got?"

He handed me five pieces of social science paper, and when I'd read through them all, my face was flushed and my heart was beating fast.

The teacher had indeed given out an assignment under the guise that she was teaching Middle Eastern history, but the last time I checked, asking children to write down the Five Pillars of Islam and the Shahada had nothing to do with history.

One of the questions on the assignment asked, "What are some of the teachings of the Quran?"

Underneath the question were several ovular bubbles where students were supposed to write their answers. My son had already written, "Allah is the one true God" in one bubble and "People must submit to Allah" in another. I turned a few pages over, and there was a page with several columns where the children were being asked to write down the Five Pillars of Islam. Again, what does this have to do with history? Nada, zilch, zero.

So the next day rolled around, and, true to form, my girlfriend and I waltzed down to our child's school and had a good ol' fashioned come-to-Jesus with the assistant principal. We let her know the handouts given by the teacher shocked us. Then we proceeded to show her the ACLU documents we printed out referencing the laws that have already been pass to make sure children couldn't be taught religion in schools.

"Yes, we've had some calls already," she said. "We knew this would be controversial."

"Uh…controversial? Try illegal, lady," I thought. I wanted to jump out of my seat and read her the riot act for exposing my kid to this material, but instead, I remained poised. I thought of the marine who'd recently been banned from the school for trying to protect his kid, and how the school said he was being disruptive and threatening. I would give this school no such opportunity to discredit me.

Ok. Before you read this and say, "Oh, ok. This guy is a Bible-belt Christian Islamophobe," let me clarify. Yes, we are Christians, and yes, I'm from the South, but I want to make it abundantly clear that I/we are not opposed at all to teaching the history of any religion, i.e., "This country practices Islam, that country practices Buddhism, this country was at war with that country because they practiced different religions." History.

But at my son's middle school, children are being taught Islamic prayers. They are being taught that Allah is the one true God. They are being taught that all people must submit to Allah. They are being taught the Quran. They are being taught the five pillars of Islam.

So will they also be taught the Ten Commandments? John 3:16? The Lord's Prayer? What do you think?

Who gave this school the authority? Why aren't more people outraged? Where are the picketing atheists? Where is the ACLU? How can this even be possible?

After meeting with the vice principal, she said she would talk to the principal and the Social Science teacher about our concerns, and we'd all get together for another pow-wow to figure out our next course of action.

In the meantime, my girlfriend and I did some research and reached out to some folks in the know to see if the Establishment Clause was being blatantly disregarded anywhere else. It was, and it was worse than we imagined.

Luckily, through her research, my girlfriend kept seeing articles written by one Pamela Geller. She sent Ms. Geller an email, thinking we'd probably never hear from her, being that she is in high demand and probably ultra-busy. Twenty minutes later, we got a phone call. It was Ms. Geller.

To our disgust, it turns out that schools all over our country are teaching the same thing. Parents everywhere are in an uproar, and no one is really doing anything about it.

We told Mrs. Geller about the follow-up meeting we were supposed to have with the principal, and she detailed almost word for word the load of BS that he would give us. She said, "He'll tell you that they are only teaching history. He'll tell you the curriculum comes down from the state and there's nothing he can do, and he'll tell you that they are going to spend time on each religion."

When our follow-up came, the principal said absolutely everything that Pamela Geller said he would. It was unbelievable. Like a programmed Stepford principal, this guy was nothing more than a puppet.

To be more precise, what he actually told us was, "I'm not sure exactly about the rest of the curriculum in this class, but I know the teacher is going to spend the same amount of time on all the religions. I'll have to get with her and get you copies of her schedule."

"Liar!" I thought, but again remained poised. So we left, feeling baffled at what was happening, and gave it another week to see if indeed the Social Science teacher would cover all the religions equally. By the way, there are 19 major world religions and roughly 270 religious sub-groups. How could this teacher spend the same amount of time on them all? She spent three weeks on Islam. It was all smoke and mirrors to pacify We The Parents.

After the week passed, lo and behold, we received a letter from the principal. The names have been changed, but here is what it said:

Ms. Smith has been out the past few days, so I haven't been able to talk to her about future homework assignments. After reviewing the curriculum, I was wrong about what comes next in 7th grade. Almost all of the Judaism and Christianity lessons are in the 6th-grade curriculum. You can take a look at the 7th-grade social studies book you have at home and see what is coming up in the future. But it looks to me there is nothing very controversial in the remaining chapters. If there is something you see that you need more information on, let me know and I will see if Ms. Smith has any information on the subject. We will be updating the absences when your son returns to class. As far as I know, the test is still scheduled for Thursday. Once the test is over, we do need to get your son back into class.

Thank you,

Mr. Doe

Hmm…did ya catch that? Not the part about him finally telling the truth--that Christianity or Judaism were not being taught--but the most important part. The part where he says, we need to get your son back in class. Yes, that's right. For two weeks, a child had to be removed, nay, I say, ostracized. In order to avoid being exposed to a religion he does not agree with. Isn't that why the Establishment Clause was created? To protect children?

Furthermore, if indeed other religions are being taught in other grades, how can this school guarantee that students coming from other systems have already been exposed to all the religions? They can't. Plain and simple, this public middle school is breaking the law, and educators all over our great country are selling out.

Listen, I believe that anyone in our country has the right to teach his or her child whatever religion they choose, and to practice it at home. That's why great men and women traversed an ocean to escape tyrannical religious oppression. That's why Martin Luther King marched from Selma. And that's why brothers killed brothers on our very soil: to insure equality for us all. But teaching a single religion over any other in public schools is not equality. If you're a Taoist, this article should outrage you. If you're a Buddhist, this article should outrage you. If you're a Jew, Christian, Hindu, pagan, or atheist, this article should outrage you.

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